There has been tremendous growth in packet-based services, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet Protocol television (IPTV). The growth in packet-based services and an increase in end-user demand for direct Ethernet access are driving development and implementation of cost-effective high-speed Ethernet transmission systems. For example, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GE) is a key enabling technology for high-speed Ethernet transmission, and network service providers are implementing it into their networks, including their local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and optical transport networks (OTNs). Also, technology is moving towards 40 GE and 100 GE. Manufacturers of high-speed network transmission systems are faced with major challenges to provide networking components that can support multiple technologies and multiple standards, such as IEEE and ITU-T, to guarantee that all network layers interface properly. As a result, these manufacturers often rely on testing equipment to ensure their systems comply with multiple technologies and multiple standards.
In addition to testing the functionality of high-speed network transmission systems, the power distribution subsystems should be tested. For example, the power distribution subsystems implemented in the high-speed network transmission systems should be able to maintain the supply voltage with a high precision under all conditions, or components of the systems may fail. There should be no significant voltage over or undershoot regardless of supply current surge amplitude and frequency. This requires a power supply network with a low impedance over a wide frequency band.
Current surges caused by various standard operations performed by a high-speed network transmission system can cause malfunctions, such as in the case of supply-voltage over or undershoots that violate chip operating conditions. In such cases, a chip in the system may behave erratically, and in the case of severe overshoot, the chip may be damaged in an irreparable way. Existing network test equipment may be operable to test functionalities of high-speed network transmission systems but the network test equipment is often not designed to test for current surges.